Biblical Hebrew Forum

["R. Lehmann" <lehmann AT uni-mainz.de>]

> From: Will Parsons <wbparsons AT alum.mit.edu>
> 
> I don't have enough knowledge to state an opinion on the original
> pronunciation of Miryam/Maryam.  I mentioned the possibility that Miryam is
> the original pronunciation, but it is also possible that the original was
> Maryam and this later became Miryam in Hebrew.  I don't know of evidence for
> one over the other.  I'm not familiar with "Mattaion", and since I don't 
> know
> the Hebrew or Aramaic original, I can't venture an opinion on that one 
> either.

Maryam is as clearly the older and original pronunciation, as is Bal'am (for 
Bil'am) and Shamshon (for Shimshon), and so on, and this has nothing to do 
with Aramaic at all. The shift /a/ > /i/ in closed unstressed syllables 
opening a word took place rather late. /a/ is preserved in proper names of 
the LXX, but not any longer in later transcriptions of the 2nd century CE. 
Simply compare the proper names as they are written in the MT (with pretonic 
short /i/ in closed syllable) to their pre-masoretic pronouciation as it is 
preserved in the LXX (written pretonic closed-syllable /a/), see for instance 
Ex 15:20ff, Num 12:1ff, Mi 6:4 (Miryam-Mariam) 
Gen 25:2 Num 31:3ff etc (Midyan - Madiam)
Gen 37:28-36 Midianites (Midyanim - MadiEnaioi)
Num 33:7 (Migdal - Magdol)
1 Chr 8:10 (mirma - marma)
Neh 7:7 (Mispar - Maspar)
and many more.

This is called attenuation (or, in German, "Verduennung") of /a/ to /i/. 
For instance have a look in the recent marvelous book of Joshua Blau, 
Phonology and Morphology of Biblical Hebrew, Eisenbrauns 2010, p. 132 (§ 
3.5.7.6.13).

Reinhard G. Lehmann


¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
Dr. Reinhard G. Lehmann
Academic Director
Research Unit on Ancient Hebrew & Epigraphy
FB 01/ Faculty of Protestant Theology
Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz
D-55099 Mainz
Germany
lehmann AT uni-mainz.de
http://www.hebraistik.uni-mainz.de
http://www.ev.theologie.uni-mainz.de/297.php
Subsidia et Instrumenta Linguarum Orientis (SILO):
http://www.hebraistik.uni-mainz.de/182.php
10th  Mainz International Colloquium on Ancient Hebrew (MICAH):
http://www.micah.hebraistik.uni-mainz.de/204.php